The Holy Bible displayed in the museum belonged to the Bunin family. It was of great worth to the writer. He kept it on his bedside table. The writer grew up in an orthodox family, his mother was a devout believer. Therefore, Bunin respected and loved Christianity.

Professor of philology Olga Berdnikova said that the writer never rejected the wisdom of other religions:

Thus, the author sought to find the universal laws of being. At the same time, orthodox Christianity remained a kind of special spiritual homeland for him.

Bunin’s legacy includes many poems based on the stories from the Books of the Old and New Testament: “The Flight to Egypt”, “Rachel”s Tomb”, “Savaof”, “The Fire Pillar”. He also made several poetic renderings of the Apocalypse: “The Son of Man, Apocalypse I”, “From the Apocalypse”, “The Day of Judgment”, “The Day of Wrath, Apocalypse VI”. He wrote these poems in different periods of his life. They are inspired by his personal experiences, impressions from his travels to holy places, thoughts about the objective laws of history and the true human nature. These questions were especially poignant in the first decades of the 20th century — the period of the fall of the House of Romanov and the Civil War in Russia.’

To illustrate the gist of the writer’s quest and ideas, Olga Berdnikova used a quote from Bunin’s short story ‘Pines’. She said that the master tried to perceive ‘the elusive knowledge that God alone has — the mystery of the uselessness and at the same time the significance of the earthly life.’

Screenwriter Galina Arbuzova, who is Konstantin Paustovsky’s stepdaughter, donated this Bible to the museum. She said that Paustovsky received it from Natalia Kodryanskaya, who was famous for her fairy tales and “short stories for young people”. The writer’s husband was a doctor and philanthropist. He helped many Russian artists, including the Bunin family. After immigrating to the United States, the couple adopted the surname Codray.

Natalia Kodryanskaya was a friend of the Bunin family for many years. After the writer and his wife Vera Nikolaevna passed away, she kept the furniture and some of their belongings. Later she donated ‘Bunin”s Parisian Cabinet’ to the Ivan Turgenev Museum in Orel. She also sent writer’s letters and other materials from his personal archive to the USSR. Natalia Kodryanskaya decided to give the Bible to Paustovsky, who highly appreciated the writer.

Natalia Kodryanskaya wrote in a letter addressed to Paustovsky’s wife, Tatyana Evteeva-Arbuzova, that Bunin kept the book on his bedside table. She also mentioned that after Paustovsky’s death, the Bible should be donated to any museum dedicated to Bunin. Presently, this letter is housed in the Ivan Nikitin Museum.